Recent technological advances have shortened the time to complete many job tasks, allowing individuals to enjoy pursuits away from the workplace more often. Many people are also opting for early retirement and with life spans continually increasing, these people take advantage of the pleasure offered by leisure time endeavors. Since there has been a considerable emphasis on maintaining health, more of these people are using their leisure time to participate in recreational activities. This is especially true of retirees who benefit tremendously by remaining active in later years. Thus, outdoor sports such as golf have enjoyed greatly increased popularity.
In order to speed play, many golfers ride in golf carts. Many carts are provided with canopies to protect occupants from direct exposure to the sun's rays while riding therein. However, the canopies are optional add-on features to the basic structural body of the golf cart and since this adds to the cost, a significant number of carts are used without canopies.
Most golf carts are also not manufactured with any type of windshield assembly. However, many golfers recognize the benefits provided by such a structure. More particularly, these structures are suited for protecting passengers from dust and debris that may be encountered in the air as the cart is in motion. In addition, a windshield assembly protects the passengers from exposure to chilling wind while in motion during the colder months. This is of particular importance to older people and those with blood circulation problems who need to maintain warmth in their hands to hold the clubs and strike the golf ball effectively.
Many attempts have been made to design a windshield assembly adapted to retrofit to a golf cart. Most are made of rigid polymeric material such as plexiglass and adapted to be mounted on the front of the cart in front of the passengers. Examples of such rigid windshield assemblies are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,829,152 to Hobbs; 4,343,503 to Samuelson et al; and 4,792,175 to Gerber.
While these designs provide sufficient protection, they have certain disadvantages and/or limitations. More particularly, all these designs require that the golf cart include a canopy or at least its supporting structure. Therefore they cannot be used on the many carts that do not include this optional feature. In addition, these windshield assemblies are not designed to fold into a compact configuration for easy portability.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,013,315 to West and 4,014,589 to Yerkey disclose portable windshield assemblies that a user may carry wherever he goes. These windshield assemblies are generally formed of a transparent, flexible sheet that extends along the front of the cart. While these sheets do block the wind, they are not as protective simply by their flexible nature as are rigid windshield assemblies. Further, these designs also require the cart to include a canopy for attachment and/or support.
A need is thus identified for a windshield assembly that is rigid to provide protection from both wind and flying dust and debris that is adapted for use on all golf carts regardless of the presence or absence of a canopy. The windshield assembly should also be capable of collapsing into a portable form to allow the user to carry it wherever he goes to play golf. The windshield assembly should be simple to manufacture and easy to attach to and detach from a golf cart.